My mouth came back to his. His lips were warm and pliant under mine. Our movements, at first, gentle and unhurried, became more insistent and consumed with the need to touch skin. His hands came up under my sweater, digging into the flesh of my back and hips.

I mirrored him, his muscles quivering as I ran my hands down his torso. The sweet heat of need tightened my belly and I ground myself against his obvious arousal with a low moan. Our mouths meshed, separating only long enough to sample our necks and faces and shoulders before joining again in an erotic dance. Our breathing became labored and heavy. I didn't know I wanted him this badly.

"Cat, wait." He spoke the words into my neck, his voice husky with need.

"Eric, I don't want to wait." My hands were still under his shirt, my lips at his ear.

"Hell, neither do I." But he pulled away, drawing my hands from his shirt, holding them between our bodies. "Just slow down a minute and think."

Leaning back, I looked at him puzzled. "You've been telling me to trust my feelings, now I am, and you tell me to think."

He smiled then, the first full one I'd seen tonight. He ran his fingers through my hair. "Catherine, don't misunderstand. I want you more than you can imagine. I have for a long time. I hate what that scumbag did to you, but I'm damn glad you're standing here with me, not in New York pining over a lost love. I've been just about out of mind thinking you two were together this weekend."

"But we weren't, so what's the hold up?" I leaned forward biting his bottom lip.

He laughed. Still holding my hands, he pointed his finger at my nose. "Stop doing that."

Pouting like a petulant child, I tilted my head, looking up at him through my lashes. "I don't wanna stop. I was liking it."

"Let me finish. Ahh, no..." He leaned back and turned his face away, avoiding my lips. The laughter bubbled out with his words. "Catherine, be serious for one moment. Please. As I was saying, there's nothing more I'd like to do tonight then take you to bed and make love to you all night."

"Sounds good to me."

"But...and it's a big but...it really isn't a good idea." The smile on my face faded. I slumped away from him. "Cat, don't sulk. It kills me when you do that." He put his hand under my chin making me look at him. "It's too soon. Too much stuff has happened in the last couple days. When I take you to bed I want it to be for the right reasons. Not just because you found out some guy was cheating on you. I want you to want me. Just me. I don't want any regrets in the morning or you second guessing your decision. And I know you. If we jump in the sack tonight, you'd always wonder if you did the right thing or if it was just a rebound romance and I was the closest man handy."

He was right. It alarmed me how, in the span of three months, he'd come to know me so well.